A Great and Terrible Beauty

It's 1895, and after the suicide of her mother, 16-year-old Gemma Doyle is shipped off from the life she knows in India to Spence, a proper boarding school in England. Lonely, guilt-ridden, and prone to visions of the future that have an uncomfortable habit of coming true, Gemma's reception there is a chilly one.

I purchased this story for teenage girls to listen to as we traveled. They didn't stay interested. It has an interesting storyline, but the narrator is sometimes difficult to understand. I don't see any insight or a message from this story. Maybe in the next books in the trilogy? I even continued to listen to it, when the girls gave up, thinking it would get better (plus I hate to leave a book unfinished)but it was not very exciting. Even the "scary" plots were not that clear. This could be because we quit listening to it and then I picked it up again, but it just didn't keep my or the girls' interest enough.

Outlander

Why we think it’s a great listen: An all-time Audible favorite that mixes historic fiction, adventure, and romance with one of the most fascinating literary devices: time travel. Outlander introduces an exhilarating world of heroism and breathtaking thrills as one woman is torn between past and present, passion and love. In 1945, former combat nurse Claire Randall returns from World War II and joins her husband for a second honeymoon. But their blissful reunion is shattered....

This is my first review before I have finished the book. I am on part 3/4 and will finish it, but I won't go further into this series. The writing is good, the historical references of Scotland are great, but it is just a romance novel in disguise. As much as a good romantic scene adds to the story, this one goes overboard and reminds me of those cheap romance novels that women often read. The characters are well developed and the story is a good one but do the main characters have to have sex in every chapter? I just think "here we go again!" I was intrigued by the time travel aspect of the book and thought that there would be more to it than just a very, very long romance. If this is your genre, then go for it, otherwise, I would imagine the rest of the series is more of the same, just different centuries, and I would select something else.

First Grave on the Right: Charley Davidson, Book 1

A smashing, award-winning debut novel that introduces Charley Davidson: part-time private investigator and full-time Grim Reaper. Charley sees dead people. That’s right, she sees dead people. And it’s her job to convince them to “go into the light”. But when these very dead people have died under less than ideal circumstances (i.e. murder), sometimes they want Charley to bring the bad guys to justice. Complicating matters are the intensely hot dreams she’s been having about an Entity who has been following her all her life...and it turns out he might not be dead after all.

The story sounds interesting, woman who can talk to the dead, etc. after about 20 min into the story, starts the sex scenes. it almost seems like the author just threw it in to have a sex scene, it didn't really add to the story. I love a great sex scene, however, this story felt like all of the innuendos and lustings were just added for the effect, but didn't add to the story itself. I think that the storyline would have been great to follow the dead, the crime investigation, etc without the main character having to indulge us with her continual lustings. I felt as though the main character was immature and not that interesting. She made cynical comments that also didn't seem to always fit the story, I felt like those things were just put in later to try to make the novel more interesting to the consumer. I always try to read the ratings and the reviews before buying an audiobook, and this one was less than what I expected. Not one I would listen to again or recommend when there are too many great novels out there...

The Best of Me

In the fall of 1984, high school students Amanda Collier and Dawson Cole fell deeply, irrevocably in love. Though they were from opposite sides of the tracks, their love for one another seemed to defy the realities of life in the small town of Oriental, North Carolina. But as the summer of their senior year came to a close, unforeseen events would tear the young couple apart, setting them on radically divergent paths.

I read Nicholas Sparks for those mindless, escape novels, where you don't have to think or try to figure out the crime, etc. He tells an interesting story in all of his novels. Regular love story, that starts when the main characters are teenagers, then they go their separate ways only to meet again and rekindle their love that has never gone away. (sniff) This has an interesting twist, and is a more mature kind of love since the characters all have lived their lives apart and now are coming together after 20+ years at the funeral of a friend. A little sappy in parts, but overall, a comfort "food" for the brain.

The Litigators

The incomparable master of the legal thriller takes us deeper into the labyrinth that is the American justice system, always drawing us in with an irresistible hook, pulling the thread of tension tighter and tighter, and then knocking us out with a conclusion that's never "by the book". Maybe that's why, after more than 20 years of consecutive number-one New York Times best sellers, a new novel by America's favorite storyteller is still a major publishing event.

I enjoyed this Grisham novel as he had some interesting characters and their development was good. A goody-two shoes lawyer among the ambulance chasers, was an interesting dynamic. The story kept me listening, a few drags now and then, but mostly kept me interested. It wasn't suspenseful, which keeps you hanging on to the story more, as some of his other novels have been. Good examples of greed and the amount of money spent on litigation and litigation-avoidance. I am not sure how accurate the picture is of the money spent by the big pharmaceutical companies, but I am sure he is close. Makes one angry to know that is often where the resources go. Enjoy!

Plum Island

Wounded in the line of duty, NYPD homicide cop John Corey is convalescing in rural eastern Long Island when an attractive young couple he knows is found shot to death on the family patio. The victims were biologists at Plum Island, a research site rumored to be an incubator for germ warfare. Suddenly, a local double murder takes on shattering global implications - and thrusts Corey and two extraordinary women into a dangerous search for the secret of Plum Island....

I actually read The Lion and Lion's Game before this one, which is the first in the series, however, it did not matter. The story is well done and very detailed, a little too much at times. There were times when the author was describing something in detail and I felt myself just thinking "get on with it." That was the only negative thing. It is a long story, but worth the time. I have enjoyed all of DeMille's novels so far. This gave me the background on the main character, John Corey, which was helpful. He is a little to misogynistic sometimes, but I guess that is what makes him John Corey. Enjoy

The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible

Our fearless author, A. J. Jacobs, tackles a new intellectual adventure, an exploration of the most influential book in the world: the Bible. He determined that the best way to explore the Bible was to live it, as literally as possible. For one year.

I love reading and learning about religions and their baggage. I thought this was an amazing idea, to live the bible literally for a year, but the story dragged. There are some funny stories from this adventure, like stoning an adulterer....with pebbles. I learned a lot about the bible from listening, especially the historical references. I would buy this type of book when it goes on sale :)

My Stroke of Insight

In My Stroke of Insight, Taylor shares her unique perspective on the brain and its capacity for recovery, and the sense of omniscient understanding she gained from this unusual and inspiring voyage out of the abyss of a wounded brain. It would take eight years for Taylor to heal completely. Because of her knowledge of how the brain works, her respect for the cells composing her human form, and most of all an amazing mother, Taylor completely repaired her mind and recalibrated her understanding of the world.

This is a great story! A view of a stroke from science as well as the emotional side really provided an amazing look at the brain and how it works. Jill's story is amazing and that as a scientist, she could analyze what was happening to her brain as it was experiencing a stroke, and then tell us about her journey; is so important. She was excellent at explaining what had happened to various parts of her brain without using jargon or losing the reader. She provided a clear and objective analysis as well as supplying the emotional aspects of the stroke. The story can truly give one insight into a person who has suffered a stroke, but it also is about life. Take the lessons from Jill and bring them into your life, so that you won't need to have a stroke to become more aware and insightful.

Practical Demonkeeping

In Christopher Moore's ingenious debut novel, we meet one of the most memorably mismatched pairs in the annals of literature. The good-looking one is one-hundred-year-old ex-seminarian and "roads" scholar Travis O'Hearn. The green one is Catch, a demon with a nasty habit of eating most of the people he meets.

I love Christopher Moore stories, the way he tells a great story and adds an element of the absurd. This was a good, easy listen. He has written some better stories, however, this was still fun. I loved he voice used for the demon. One of the reasons I like to read Moore's stories are that they are just fun and provides a few hours of escape. The characters are always so unique and intriguing. This one had some great characters as well, including the demon and provided a few hours of fun.

Skippy Dies

This touching and uproarious novel by author Paul Murray made everyone’s best fiction of 2010 lists, including The Washington Post, Financial Times, Village Voice, and others. Why Skippy dies and what happens next is the mystery that links the boys of Dublin’s Seabrook College (Ruprecht Van Doren, the overweight genius obsessed with string theory; Carl, the teenager drug dealer and borderline psychotic; Philip Kilfether, the basketball-playing midget) to their parents and teachers in ways that no one could have imagined.

I am pretty consistent with checking reviews and narration ahead of purchase and this purchase was not different. I just finished the recording, even though I purchased it some time ago, mostly because I don't like to leave a book unfinished, even the ones I don't like. This was an interesting story, great cast of narrators especially, but I couldn't stay with it. A group of boys in an Irish boarding school, supposedly friends, intertwined with their teachers and Catholic priests. After finally finishing the book, I still don't really know the main point of the story. It jumped around quite often, the author used inappropriate language in many places, not that often a story is enhanced by language, this just didn't seem to fit. Many sexual references, innuendo; I know that is often the mind of teenage boys, however, it just didn't seem to fit into the story. I use the term inappropriate, because the swear words or sexual terms didn't seem to fit, not inappropriate in the sense that I oppose the use of such language. Even the drug use, which was a major theme, didn't seem to fit well into the story and was a bit confusing.

There are 3 parts to this story, the last one seemed to be the easiest listen, but still not that interesting. I didn't feel like some of the main characters dilemmas were resolved, even at the end of the book. The only reason that I did finish the story was because I can't leave a book only partially read, so I muddled through. It did have some interesting parts, but regretfully, not enough to make me like the book.

The Broker

In his final hours in the Oval Office, the outgoing President grants a controversial last-minute pardon to Joel Backman, a notorious Washington power broker who has spent the last six years hidden away in a federal prison. What no one knows is that the President issues the pardon only after receiving enormous pressure from the CIA. It seems Backman, in his power broker heyday, may have obtained secrets that compromise the world's most sophisticated satellite surveillance system.

I am a Grisham fan and liked this novel. It had an engaging plot and enough intrigue to keep me interested and wanting to keep reading. You find yourself rooting for the "bad guy" in spite of his previous crimes. He is a great character and I enjoyed the detail of his exile and trying to blend in to new cultures. This one wasn't boring!

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